Conjugations
All six tenses and their examples are shown below. Use the links above to jump to a tense. English translations use the meaning “to touch.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | touche | I touch | |
| tu | touches | you touch | |
| il / elle / on | touche | he / she / it toucheson: we touch / one touches | |
| nous | touchons | we touch | |
| vous | touchez | you touch | |
| ils / elles | touchent | they touch |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Paul touche le tissu du manteau.
Paul touches the fabric of the coat.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai touché | I touched | |
| tu | as touché | you touched | |
| il / elle / on | a touché | he / she / it touchedon: we touched / one touched | |
| nous | avons touché | we touched | |
| vous | avez touché | you touched | |
| ils / elles | ont touché | they touched |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, Paul a touché le tissu du manteau.
Yesterday, Paul touched the fabric of the coat.
The passé composé uses avoir. The table shows the unmarked participle; agreement with a preceding direct object is outside this reference.
Back to tense navigation ↑Imperfect Imparfait
Past habits, descriptions, and actions in progress.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | touchais | I used to touch | |
| tu | touchais | you used to touch | |
| il / elle / on | touchait | he / she / it used to touchon: we used to touch / one used to touch | |
| nous | touchions | we used to touch | |
| vous | touchiez | you used to touch | |
| ils / elles | touchaient | they used to touch |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, Paul touchait le tissu du manteau.
Back then, Paul used to touch the fabric of the coat.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | toucherai | I will touch | |
| tu | toucheras | you will touch | |
| il / elle / on | touchera | he / she / it will touchon: we will touch / one will touch | |
| nous | toucherons | we will touch | |
| vous | toucherez | you will touch | |
| ils / elles | toucheront | they will touch |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, Paul touchera le tissu du manteau.
Later, Paul will touch the fabric of the coat.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | toucherais | I would touch | |
| tu | toucherais | you would touch | |
| il / elle / on | toucherait | he / she / it would touchon: we would touch / one would touch | |
| nous | toucherions | we would touch | |
| vous | toucheriez | you would touch | |
| ils / elles | toucheraient | they would touch |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Paul toucherait le tissu du manteau.
Paul would touch the fabric of the coat.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | touche | (that) I touch | |
| tu | touches | (that) you touch | |
| il / elle / on | touche | (that) he / she / it toucheson: (that) we touch / one touches | |
| nous | touchions | (that) we touch | |
| vous | touchiez | (that) you touch | |
| ils / elles | touchent | (that) they touch |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que Paul touche le tissu du manteau.
It is possible that Paul touches the fabric of the coat.
French forms omit the subject. Use j’ before a vowel sound. Vous is polite singular or plural “you”; on often means “we,” or the general “one.” English wording depends on the context: passé composé can also use “have,” and the imperfect can describe an ongoing action. Subjunctive translations here follow “it is possible that.”
Meaning & usage
- to touch (physically)
- to affect
- to receive, to get; to earn (money)
English glosses are a starting point. The meaning of a verb can change with context, a preposition, or se. Read the full dictionary entry ↗
Meanings and simple conjugation forms adapted from English Wiktionary contributors via Kaikki.org / Wiktextract. Passé composé forms combine the source auxiliary and past participle. Frequency scores from wordfreq 3.1.1 by Robyn Speer and contributors. Adapted data is available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Entry source · Sources, download & limitations